Stunned by the Bergen Philharmonic/Andrew Litton Petroushka
and Rite of Spring disc (see review),
I leapt at the chance to review their L’Oiseau de feu.
The point can be made with every new review of every new release
of this work, but there are indeed so many versions available
that someone attempting to make a blind choice will be bewildered,
and anyone with a decent recording or two already will wonder
why the labels keep churning them out.

Robert Craft’s recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra, now
available on the Naxos label (see review)
has become something of a reference of mine, and indeed preferable
in many ways to Boulez on Deutsche Grammophon (see review).
Craft can achieve fever-pitch excitement from his players, and
is intensely alert to Stravinsky’s orchestral colours and nuances.
If you want a recording where the emotional turmoil is closest
to the surface then you won’t go wrong with Craft.

It’s easy to generalise and there are some particular points
to be made about Litton’s recording, but just about every comment
which can be made about this BIS release can also be said of
the Naxos disc. As you would imagine, the massed and extended
forces of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Stravinsky’s
full-score original version of this work sound wonderful, and
if you are looking for ‘demonstration quality’ in your CDs then
this is very much one to have as a reference. The bass drum
is truly spectacular, the SACD spread of sound is more than
just involving, and you can close your eyes and feel the experience
from scalp to toes through a good system. Litton works his orchestra
with phenomenal dexterity, graduating dynamics with precision,
balancing to create atmosphere and tease the imagination. All
of the instrumental solos are superb. Little moments of transition
create a world of magic, such as the two chords at 1:50 into
Le jardin enchanté with their halo of celesta sound,
or the strange bell-like tones under the opening of Carillon
féerique. The sur la scène trumpets of ‘Daybreak’
which get such a high billing in the blurb for Craft’s recording
have greater impact in this Bergen version, and the left-right
antiphonal effect is nicely done, though is a momentary and
fleeting event and nothing to get too excited about. This is
however one of the things which does work better in surround-sound.
These trumpets also appear in the final pages of the score –
those sustained notes ringing out from 2:08, and mixed somewhere
in the final cadence from 3:02. The softer moments of the score
put you under a deep spell, and the late-romantic inflections
of the Supplications de l’oiseau and melodic lament
of the Berceuse are beautifully done, contrasting hotly
with the precipitous edge-of-the-seat excitement of the Danse
infernale with its woofer-walloping bass drum. The arrival
of the final Allégresse générale is truly cathartic.

There’s a fascinating clutch of extras to make up the rest of
the programme. How does Stravinsky make Tchaikovsky sound like
Stravinsky? Forced by circumstances to reduce the full orchestra
to ten winds, piano, timpani and strings, there is no mistaking
the chugging string chords under the solos of the of the first
Adagio of the Pas-De-Deux, and there subtle
are little touches of the old alchemy sprinkled throughout the
orchestrations Stravinsky made for Diaghilev’s 1921 Sleeping
Beauty. The connection between Sibelius and Stravinsky
is made through his gift of an orchestration of the string-orchestra
Canzonetta after being awarded the Wihuri Sibelius
Prize in 1961. The Chopin orchestrations are beautifully crafted,
and though the Nocturne is done with idiomatic sensitivity,
the Grand Valse Brillante becomes one of Stravinsky’s
circus ‘fun’ pieces, complete with oom-pah brass and banal cymbal
crashes. The Greeting Prelude is a ‘Happy Birthday’
to Pierre Monteux which distorts that naff little tune through
serial techniques into a dramatic miniature which would fit
as the opening to grim news broadcasts.

The choice of an SACD recording of The Firebird has
just been made whole lot easier, and I would gladly push this
one under the noses of any enquiring clients at the record shop
(remember those?). With straight CD versions this still comes
out very near the top, though I will be hanging on to my Robert
Craft and others such as Stravinsky’s own 1961 recording on
Sony. Kent Nagano with the LSO on Virgin Classics is also very
good. If I have one slight reservation about Litton’s
performance it is that feel of absolute control, which just
prevents the feeling of white-hot passion and drama you can
sense with Craft. This is a judgment call and purely subjective,
and shouldn’t really be a decisive factor. If you want a stunning
treat and a Firebird which will last you for the next
decade or so, this is the place.

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